"Your orders are to stop asking me what I want you to do. When I want you to do something, I'll tell you. I don't need you pestering me for commands, got that?"

"Um... right. Sorry Mistress."

"And for right now, call me Sakura. There's still a lot more that I want to talk about!"

"Fine Sakura..."

"When you were talking to Tsunade earlier... you mentioned that you were born to be a scapegoat because of the Kyubi... what did you mean by that? What did you mean when you called yourself the "container of the demon?"" Sakura's voice was quiet and timid as she asked her question. She was a smart girl, and she had already figured out the answer. She just didn't want it to be true.

"You don't need to know the answer to that question Sakura." Naruto sighed. "Just push it from your pretty mind."

"Naruto..." Sakura growled in a warning tone. "You will answer all of my questions."

"No." Naruto replied as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"EXCUSE ME?!" Sakura yelled out in surprise. "As my slave you don't get to say no to me."

"Well I'm saying no. Go ahead and seal my chakra away, punish me, kill me if that's what you have to do, I don't care. The knowledge that you seek is a burden that I will not place upon you."

Sakura's mouth was completely agape. She was furious at him for refusing to answer her question, but at the same time she was amazed at how far he was willing to go to protect her. She couldn't imagine what Naruto Uzumaki would do if his chakra was sealed away for the rest of his life, he just didn't have it in him to be an ordinary civilian. Yet, he was willing to have his chakra sealed to protect her from his secret?

A fresh wave of guilt poured through Sakura's body as she again realized how far Naruto was willing to go for her. Unfortunately for Naruto however, she had already figured out his secret.

"Knowing that you're the jinchuriki of the Kyubi is a terrible burden?" Sakura asked in quiet voice.

Now it was Naruto's turn to have his mouth hang agape in surprise. "I...eh..."

"I'm not an idiot Naruto. I can put two and two together."

"Then why did you ask me?"

"Because I was hoping I was wrong..." Sakura admitted sadly. "Everything makes sense now actually. Why the adults hated you so much when we were younger, why I was told to stay away from you..."

"Ah it wasn't that bad." Naruto lied with a cheerful smile.

"You acted out... you acted out for attention didn't you? Earlier, when you told me you had a reason for acting the way you did... it was so people would notice you..." Sakura suddenly realized as a feeling of dread went through her body.

"It wasn't..." Naruto started.

"You just wanted someone to notice you... You just wanted me to notice you..." Sakura went on in a horrified tone.

"Sakura it..."

"But all I did was hit you... abuse you... degrade you... And then enslave you." Sakura looked down at her hands with disgust in her eyes. She let out a rueful chuckle.

"God the villagers had it all wrong. You're not the one who's the monster... I am."

"Sakura stop!" Naruto yelled. "Don't you ever think of yourself as a monster."

"STOP BEING SO DAMN NICE TO ME NARUTO!" Sakura roared. "You should hate me... You said it yourself, your heart may never recover from the pain I put you threw today, so stop trying to defend me." Tears were now freely falling from Sakura's cheeks.

"I already told you Sakura, I can't hate you. I love you too much to ever hate you." Naruto replied softly as he slowly took Sakura's sandals off. Sakura was too distracted by her own tears and guilt to notice what Naruto was doing.

"Well fine. You can't hate me... But I can hate me, and I do. I can't believe I did this to you... You'll always be my slave Naruto because I branded you. There's no way for me to free you." Sakura sobbed, but her sobs stopped and her eyes widened when she felt Naruto's lips press softly against the sole of her foot.

"You branded me because you were looking out for my comfort Sakura. I'm grateful that you branded me." Naruto kissed the sole of Sakura's foot again and she looked down at him with an unreadable look.

"Now please stop crying Sakura-chan, and please don't hate yourself. You're a good person, and the woman I love. Remember, you enslaved me fair and square." Naruto again kissed Sakura's sole. "You told me that I could plan on spending the rest of my life underneath your feet didn't you?"

Sakura offered Naruto a weak smile. "Yea... I did..." Her smile grew larger as Naruto again kissed her foot.

"There's the smile I was hoping to see." Naruto said in a relieved tone of voice. He switched his attention to the sole of Sakura's other foot, and started kissing it repeatedly, as if to thank Sakura for smiling.

As she felt Naruto's lips continuously connect with the sole of her foot, Sakura couldn't wipe the smile off her face if she had to.

"I just want you to know Naruto... That I really am sorry now for what I did to you. I'm sorry for stripping you of your freedom, and for taking your dream away from you."

Naruto just grinned beneath Sakura's foot as he continued kissing it. "Nah, don't worry about it Mistress."

Sakura smiled softly at her slave beneath her feet.

"Thank you Naruto." She whispered with a grateful smile. She starts rubbing her smelly feet on Naruto's face, but before she can really get into it, a knock from her door interrupts her.